bryan
New member
date: 1/24/14
trails: carlton notch trail, crescent ridge trail, pasture path, spur, randolph hill road
conditions: we parked at the end of randolph hill road which was well plowed with a large plowed out area at its end. we walked a short distance back down the road to the trail which had a couple inches of powder snow over a thin base. coverage remained good with some ice on the final climb to the ridge. crescent ridge trail was a mixed bag. some nice snowshoeing in a few inches of snow often turned to thinly veiled flow ice on some of the steeper pitches around the peaks. some required care to navigate. to get to the true summit of north randolph we left the trail north of the summit and the height of land of the trail into some nice open woods and wound around west then south to avoid nastier going close to the trail. there were a number of false bumps along the way, but we eventually found the high point which as shown on the map is right on the boundary line between the town and national forests. the boundary is pretty heavily blazed in blue and hard to miss. leaving we decided to try to head straight back to the trail. the going was steep and somewhat scrappy, but we pretty quickly were back at the trail south of where we left it. other than some icy steeps it was good going to randolph and beyond with much of the descent in hardwoods with good snow cover. some significant ice around and below lookout ledge then good going out pasture path then a small spur (i forget the name and it isn't labelled on my map) back to randolph hill road about .25 from the car. numerous small water crossings were all solidly frozen.
equipment: we wore snowshoes the whole hike. a little bony in some spots, but best choice overall.
comments: a chilly -9 start, but a nice hike overall and pretty comfortable once we got going. lots of moose sign along the ridge and great views to the presidentials from lookout ledge. need to do this one again someday with a deep snow base. thanks to cynthia.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: carlton notch trail, crescent ridge trail, pasture path, spur, randolph hill road
conditions: we parked at the end of randolph hill road which was well plowed with a large plowed out area at its end. we walked a short distance back down the road to the trail which had a couple inches of powder snow over a thin base. coverage remained good with some ice on the final climb to the ridge. crescent ridge trail was a mixed bag. some nice snowshoeing in a few inches of snow often turned to thinly veiled flow ice on some of the steeper pitches around the peaks. some required care to navigate. to get to the true summit of north randolph we left the trail north of the summit and the height of land of the trail into some nice open woods and wound around west then south to avoid nastier going close to the trail. there were a number of false bumps along the way, but we eventually found the high point which as shown on the map is right on the boundary line between the town and national forests. the boundary is pretty heavily blazed in blue and hard to miss. leaving we decided to try to head straight back to the trail. the going was steep and somewhat scrappy, but we pretty quickly were back at the trail south of where we left it. other than some icy steeps it was good going to randolph and beyond with much of the descent in hardwoods with good snow cover. some significant ice around and below lookout ledge then good going out pasture path then a small spur (i forget the name and it isn't labelled on my map) back to randolph hill road about .25 from the car. numerous small water crossings were all solidly frozen.
equipment: we wore snowshoes the whole hike. a little bony in some spots, but best choice overall.
comments: a chilly -9 start, but a nice hike overall and pretty comfortable once we got going. lots of moose sign along the ridge and great views to the presidentials from lookout ledge. need to do this one again someday with a deep snow base. thanks to cynthia.
bryan
[email protected]
Last edited:
